ry year showed improvement,
while the convicts had useful and healthful occupation.

"The electric phaetons, as those for high speed are called, have three
and four wheels, and weigh, including battery and motor, five hundred
to four thousand pounds. With hollow but immensely strong galvanically
treated aluminum frames and pneumatic or cushion tires, they run at
thirty-five and forty miles an hour on country roads, and attain a
speed over forty on city streets, and can maintain this rate without
recharging for several days. They can therefore roam over the roads of
the entire hemisphere, from the fertile valley of the Peace and grey
shores of Hudson Bay, to beautiful Lake Nicaragua, the River Plate, and
Patagonia, improving man by bringing him close to Nature, while they
combine the sensations of coasting with the interest of seeing the
country well.

"To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost every town and
village, two copper pins attached to insulated copper wires are shoved
into smooth-bored holes. These drop out of themselves by fusing a
small lead ribbon, owing to the increased resistance, when the acid in
the batteries begins to 'boil,' though there is, of course, but little
heat in this, the function of charging being merely to bring about the
condition in which part of the limestone can be consumed, the batteries
themselves, when in constant use, requiring to be renewed about once a
month. A handle at the box seat turns on any part of the attainable
current, for either going ahead or reversing, there being six or eight
degrees of speed for both directions, while the steering is done with a
small wheel.

"Light but powerful batteries and motors have also been fitted on
bicycles, which can act either as auxiliaries for hill-climbing or in
case of head wind, or they can propel the machine altogether.

"Gradually the width of the streets became insufficient for the
traffic, although the elimination of horses and the consequent increase
in speed greatly augmented their carrying capacity, until recently a
new system came in. The whole width of the avenues and streets in the
business parts of the city, including the former sidewalks, is given up
to wheel traffic, an iron ridge extending along the exact centre to
compel vehicles to keep to the right. Strips of nickel painted white,
and showing a bright phosphorescence at night, are let into the metal
pavement flush with the surface, and run paral